Green group Zetek goes bust

A CUTTING-EDGE green energy technology company that was set to come to the stock market earlier this year worth hundreds of millions of pounds has gone bust.

Zetek Power, whose products have been used to power City of Westminster vehicles and which has been working on schemes with Marks & Spencer and the Post Office, has been put into administration.

A £40m funding package to underwrite development plants in Cologne and Tennessee was scrapped as investment sentiment went sour after the 11 September terrorist attacks. Investors losing money in Zetek include investment bank NM Rothschild. Its directors include London mayoral candidate and former Tory minister Steve Norris.

Zetek specialises in rechargeable hydrogen fuel cell energy. It started as a research and development company during the European space programme in the 1970s and worked on the former Soviet Union's atomic programme. It has been in its present guise since Nick Abson, a former producer of Channel 4's Countdown show, became chairman and chief executive. Administrators from accountants Leonard Curtis were called in this week.